Govt rapped for 'failure' to provide ambulance to rape victim

Inadequate infrastructure and lack of facilities at AIIMS on Tuesday came under scanner of a Parliamentary panel which slammed the government for its "failure" to even provide for a state-of-the-art ambulance to transport the Delhi gangrape victim to the airport recently.

Sources said members of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, in its meeting in New Delhi, lamented that the government had to borrow an ambulance from a private hospital to transport the girl to the airport for her treatment in Singapore.

They wondered why a top medical institute of the country did not have a similar facility to cater to such emergencies despite crores of rupees having been spent on improving infrastructure.

Members are also learnt to have told health ministry officials that government had to seek the opinion of private doctors instead of relying on government doctors treating the rape victim, before transporting her to Singapore for further treatment.

The working of All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was under scrutiny of the Parliamentary Committee, where it was sought that facilities be added and improved to provide more patient care and satisfaction.

Laying emphasis on hygiene in the hospital, the Committee also discussed the issue of shortage of doctors, with some seeking early start of the six AIIMS-like institutes across the country.

The six such institutes at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh which were announced in 2003 and approved in March 2006. The institutes are to be set up under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.